Genesis:Region Information

There are three main regions for Genesis/Mega Drive hardware; Japanese, US and Europe/PAL. All of these regions are determined by two pins on the VDP or main ASIC, one for language (English/Japanese) and the other for video frequency (50/60 Hz). Each pin is set by either connecting them high (5V) or low (ground). Most games released before 1993 largely ignore these settings, but many released after this period perform a check to determine which console the game is running on. If the game detects a mismatch between what it expects and the console's region settings, it will not boot and often times will display a warning message (i.e. "Developed For Use Only with NTSC Genesis Systems."). Most Sega/Mega CD systems also perform this region check in their BIOS, and it cannot be bypassed without performing a region mod on the Genesis/Mega Drive console or replacing the BIOS on the CD hardware with a region-free one. Loading a region-free BIOS via a flash cart will also work.

Unlike its predecessor, the Genesis/Mega Drive uses the exact same cartridge pinout and connector across all regions.

For more information, consult the region coding page on Sega Retro, which also includes an exhaustive list of games which are region locked or function differently depending on region.

Japanese/Korean

Japanese and Korean consoles have the language pin held low (JP) and the video frequency pin held high (60 Hz).

US and PAL cartridges will easily fit into a Japanese Mega Drive with room to spare, but they lack a cutout on the left side for the model 1 console's cartridge lock, preventing the console from powering on. This can be easily circumvented by removing the cartridge lock mechanism in the console's top shell, allowing the console to power on with a US/PAL cartridge inserted. As long as the cartridge does not check for region, it should play perfectly on a Japanese console. The original Wondermega also has a spring-loaded cartridge lock inside the plastic cartridge slot "throat", which can be easily removed. All other Japanese Mega Drive models lack the cartridge lock so US/PAL cartridges will fit without any issues.

One curiosity is that Japanese games which are region locked do not check the video frequency setting, only the language setting. This means it is possible to play these games on a console outputting 50 Hz PAL video if the console's language pin is changed to the Japanese setting. However, they may play slower since many of these games were intended to be played on a console running at 60 Hz.

North American/Brazilian

North American and Brazilian consoles have both the language and video frequency pins held high (EN, 60 Hz).

For the North American market, Sega changed the Japanese Mega Drive's cartridge shape to a slightly smaller one, which is rounded at the front and slightly squared off at the back, with notches going halfway up on the back. Most Genesis consoles have a cartridge slot which tightly follows this outline, preventing the thicker Japanese cartridges from fitting. This can be circumvented by using a cartridge adapter, a Game Genie, or physically modifying the top shell of the console so Japanese cartridges will fit. The only two Genesis consoles which can fit most Japanese cartridges without modification are the JVC X'Eye (which has a squared-off slot like its Japanese counterpart) and the Genesis 3; while the Genesis 3 can accommodate most Japanese cartridges, the slightly thicker cartridges used by Sunsoft will not fit (see the section about cartridge shapes below).

Europe/PAL

PAL consoles have the language pin held high (EN) and the video frequency pin held low (50 Hz).

Sega also used the exact same cartridge shape as the US in PAL regions, so PAL games will fit without issue in a Genesis console and vice versa. As with the Genesis, Japanese cartridges will not fit in a PAL Mega Drive. Furthermore, PAL games which do not perform the region check will play perfectly fine on a Genesis, with a large number running at their intended speed since many PAL games were not optimized for 50 Hz. Conversely, Genesis games without the region check will play fine on a PAL Mega Drive, but may play at a slower than intended speed.

Asia

Asian market consoles look almost identical to their Japanese counterparts and use the same cartridge shape as Japan and Korea. In NTSC countries such as the Philippines and Taiwan, Sega simply sold the Japanese console with no changes. In Asian locales which used PAL, such as Hong Kong and Thailand, Sega sold what is essentially the European Mega Drive in a Japanese shell. As a result, these PAL Asian consoles have the language and video frequency pins configured like a European console (EN, 50 Hz). This means that while cartridges of any region will fit (if the cartridge lock is removed beforehand), games which are region locked for US or Japanese consoles will not work without an adapter or modification. Conversely, games meant for PAL Asian consoles will fit in a Japanese console without modification, but games which perform a region check will not function without an adapter or modification.

Notes about Cartridge Shapes

Despite the regional differences between cartridge shapes as described above, there are some notable exceptions. Electronic Arts and Accolade cartridges are narrower than official cartridges and these will fit into any region console. Sonic & Knuckles (which does not have a region check) and the 32X add-on follow the US/PAL cartridge outline but have a cutout in the side for the Japanese model 1. This may have been done as a cost-cutting move by Sega in order to avoid making unique cartridge molds for non-Western consoles. Many Genesis homebrew games and bootlegs also use the US/PAL cartridge shape with the side notch.

In Japan, a few third party publishers opted to manufacture their own cartridges, such as Capcom, Konami, Namco, Sunsoft and Taito. Most of these publishers chose to follow the exact same shape as Sega-manufactured cartridge shells, but Sunsoft and Taito took some liberties with the design. Taito cartridges are slightly thicker and completely smooth at the sides, while Sunsoft went with thicker and squared-off sides. The Mega Adaptor, which is the Japanese version of the Power Base Converter, has a rectangular shape which fills in the entire cartridge slot on a Japanese Mega Drive.

Sega CD

All Sega CD games are region locked according to the three main regions (JP, US, PAL) as described above. This is determined by the CD system's BIOS and is unrelated to the region of the host console. This can be circumvented by using a flash cart to load an alternate region BIOS ROM or a region-free BIOS. The BIOS ROM of the CD system can also be replaced with a region-free BIOS. Disc images can also be patched to a different region using a tool such as the Region Bypass Tool and burned to a CD-R.

32X

The 32X add-on does not perform any region checks and 32X cartridges are the same shape in all regions. However, many 32X games are region locked and perform a check on the host console's region like Genesis games do. Curiously, a number of first party 32X games which are region locked only differentiate between NTSC and PAL consoles, meaning that some US 32X games will work on a Japanese host console and vice versa.